In summary:
- Macworld reports that Apple accidentally leaked a regulatory document revealing a new “MacBook Neo” model (A3404) before quickly removing it.
- The leaked document suggests this appears to be a budget-friendly MacBook targeting younger users, distinct from current Air and Pro models.
- Expected features include two USB-C ports and MagSafe charging, though detailed specifications remain unknown following Apple’s unintended disclosure.
We’re well into Apple’s “big week” of product reveals (we’ve had a new iPad Air, iPhone, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro; bookmark our live blog for all the announcements as the company makes them) but there’s still at least one product left to come. We know this because Apple accidentally told us.
Eagle-eyed reporters at MacRumors noticed earlier today that Apple had posted to its compliance page a regulatory document for a product that doesn’t exist. This was labelled as “MacBook Neo (Model A3404),” and was separate from the entries for the M5 MacBook Air (A3448, A3449) and MacBook Pro (A3426, A3427, A3428, A3429) machines.
Almost as soon as the site wrote about its discovery (although not necessarily as a direct result of this), Apple took the document down. But MacRumors uploaded it to Scribd, where you can view it now. Sadly, it doesn’t include any tech specs or product images, though it does point to two USB-C ports and MagSafe, which were expected. It’s the existence of the product, not its contents, which is revelatory.
Given that Apple is strongly expected to announce a new budget MacBook this week, it’s not a huge leap to assume that the MacBook Neo is that product.
The name of the product has been one of its great mysteries. Would Apple simply call it “MacBook,” as it did with the 12-inch machine that launched in 2015 and sat between the Air and Pro lines? Would it be called MacBook SE, to match the budget-focused version of the Apple Watch and, until last year, iPhone? Or would Apple try to use the ‘e’ branding that budget iPhones now carry? Nobody was sure, and now it looks like the company has decided to use something completely new.
The cheap MacBook is expected to come in a range of fun colors and aim at a younger audience than existing MacBook models. It’s debatable whether “Neo,” which means “new” but is closely associated with Keanu Reeves’ character in the “Matrix” movies, is an especially fun name, but the key with these Apple brands is to remember that they always sound strange at first. Ahead of the company’s first tablet launch, the name “iPad” sounded ridiculous, but after a few weeks of marketing, it sounds completely normal and even desirable.
Of course, it’s possible that the regulatory document (or at least the label used for it on the website) was a cunning piece of misinformation designed to throw reporters off the scent, and it will have some other name entirely. We’ll probably find out tomorrow.
Author: David Price, Editor, Macworld
David has been writing about technology for well over two decades, and got on board the Apple hype train when covering the original iPhone launch in 2007. He is an enthusiastic Apple Watch evangelist and feels that the HomePod is misunderstood.